Along the UTSA beat writer's path

Driving south and east on U.S. Route 95 in Idaho, just to the east of Washington state line, the road twists out of the mountains and into a valley. A scenic overlook provides a glimpse of the craggy terrain and, in the distance, the Clearwater River. UTSA played at the University of Idaho in Moscow, about 35 miles to the north of this vista, on Saturday, Nov. 17.

Photo By Jerry Briggs/Express-News

Motorists stopping at a scenic overlook on U.S. Route 95 get a view of the city of Lewiston, Idaho, which sits at the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers. U.S. 95 to the north leads into Moscow, where the UTSA Roadrunners played the University of Idaho on this day, Nov. 17.

Photo By Jerry Briggs/Express-News

UTSA played its final road game of the season at the University of Idaho in Moscow on Nov. 17. The game was played on the 200th anniversary of Donald "�Perpetual Motion" MacKenzie's sojourn into northern Idaho. Mackenzie, a native of Scotland, linked in a business venture with the John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company in 1812, according to a sign on a scenic overlook on U.S. Route 95, about an hour's drive south of Moscow. MacKenzie's fur trading outpost didn't last long, apparently.

Photo By MICHAEL DUNLAP/Express-News

Terry Bradshaw, former Louisiana Tech and Pittsburgh Steelers football quarterback, talks Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006, in Ruston, La., about what led him to donate several of his NFL possessions to the university. (AP Photo/The News-Star,Michael Dunlap)

Photo By Ann Hermes/Express-News

NEW ORLEANS, LA - AUGUST 28: Chris Rabin walks with Tyler Guevara through the flooded walkway along Lakeshore Drive as the waves grow higher on Lake Pontchartrain as Hurricane Issac rolls in on August 28, 2012 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (AP Photo/The Christian Science Monitor, Ann Hermes)

Photo By Norm Dettlaff/Express-News

A rainbow shows its colors as fans stand for the National Anthem before the start of the Arkansas Pine-Bluff-New Mexico State football game at Aggie Memorial Stadium on Sept. 29, 2007. New Mexico State University is offering football fans $2 tickets for Saturday's home game against Louisiana Tech in an effort to help meet NCAA attendance requirements. NMSU could face NCAA sanctions if the school does not hit a benchmark of 15,000 fans per home game in the 2008 football season. (AP photo/Las Cruces Sun-News, Norm Dettlaff)

Traveling alone last fall to chronicle six road games in UTSA's one and only season in the Western Athletic Conference, I reveled in an almost Woody Guthrie-like experience.

Not in a railroad box car, mind you, but in a rental car.

From the steamy Gulf South, to the New Mexico desert and the rolling high plains in the Pacific Northwest, time spent behind the wheel on unfamiliar highways after dark often produced mixed feelings.

Fatigue was one of them. Confusion was another.

“Where the heck am I?”

Anxiety aside, the long drives also yielded an opportunity for some personal reflection, not to mention an introduction to regional politics, via talk radio.

And oh, yes, time to listen to some outstanding rock 'n' roll.

So with a nod to the Roadrunners, who went 8-4 in their second year, here are the highlights of my journey through America:

Gulf Coast region

With a 480-mile-wide tropical storm bearing down on the coast, officials postponed UTSA's season opener at South Alabama and pushed it back two days.

A wise move, indeed.

When I arrived in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong Airport had just reopened after two days of pounding from Hurricane Isaac.

After checking out the rental, I steered into a neighborhood looking for the interstate that would lead to Alabama.

The neighborhood had been hit hard. Some of the utility poles were bent eerily at 45-degree angles.

Much of the city was still flooded.

Dialing up a call-in radio show while driving through the Crescent City, I listened as residents pleaded for help in restoring electrical power.

A local official promised crews were working feverishly to do just that.

A day later, in Mobile, Ala., the muggy heat was brutal as I stood on the field near the end zone at Ladd Peebles Stadium.

Mobile, a coastal city 144 miles from New Orleans, was spared the wrath of the storm, but not the loss on the field.

Sean Ianno's 51-yard field goal sailed through the uprights with 16 seconds left to give UTSA a pulsating 33-31 victory.

Atlanta

This was an easy trip. No hurricane. A direct flight to Atlanta.

A train ride into downtown.

On game day, a city of six million people barely noticed that Georgia State had rolled out a funky promotion for its meeting with UTSA.

Before kickoff at the Georgia Dome, a music video started to play on the big screen.

In the video, veteran coach Bill Curry, wearing goofy, oversized glasses, lip-synced the words to Corey Hart's 1980s hit, “Sunglasses at Night.” It signaled the third-year program's first night game at the Georgia Dome.

Later, Curry may have wanted to cover his eyes completely.

The Roadrunners made it look easy in a 38-14 victory while improving to 3-0 on the season.

Las Cruces, N.M.

I woke up on game day to find the small town 45 miles north of El Paso drenched in glorious sunshine.

To the east, a craggy mountain range outlined the blue sky on the horizon.

An overnight rain had subsided, and long-suffering New Mexico State fans sleeping in RVs outside Aggie Memorial Stadium were just beginning to stir when I drove up to the parking lot to look around.

Later in the evening, in UTSA's historic first game in the WAC, the Roadrunners got to 5-0 on the year with a 35-14 victory over the Aggies.

After filing my story, I noticed an almost incandescent full moon in a now-darkened eastern sky.

Yes, at times, this job is about as good as it gets.

Houston

Waking early at the hotel on game day in mid-October, I pored over the Houston Chronicle's college football coverage, eager to journey out into the neighborhood to find historic Rice Stadium.

President Kennedy once spoke there. Dicky Maegle once played football there. My old high school classmate, Tommy Kramer, once led the nation in passing there.